Comparison of Essie Come Here! with OPI Red Lights Ahead...Where?

When I saw Essie Come Here!, it reminded me a lot of OPI Red Lights Ahead...Where? from the Holland Collection, hence decided to put them side by side - from left: OPI Red Lights Ahead...Where?, Essie Come Here! and China Glaze Poinsettia.

Essie Come Here! is slightly lighter than OPI Red Lights Ahead...Where?, but I think for a non-nail-phile, they are not dupes but pretty similar. Have swatched China Glaze Poinsettia just to show the orange tinge the other 2 have.

Both the Essie and OPI were minis in the sets I purchased so I didn't have much of a choice, but I probably wouldn't buy the both on their own, as I'm not that into this shade and they are close enough for me. Do you find them similar too?

Thanks for viewing!

OPI Jinx and Vesper from Bond Girls collection

I was playing around to try out the liquid sand polishes and I must say that OPI Jinx is very pretty with its coral base and gold sparkles. OPI Vesper on the other hand did nothing for me, just a deep eggplant color (>.<) Texture wise, it is still bearable but I feel that the formula tends to chip easily on me.

Was kinda bored so tried out a freehand pattern (no tape) on my left with Jinx, Vesper and OPI Solitaire and added studs from KKCentreHk  as seen above.

Unfortunately, it is not my intention but I think it looks rather superhero-like? Haha....or maybe varsity colors?

This is the other design (chevron) I tried out on my right hand.

But I guess maybe I should have just left them alone and just wore them plain :p What do you think?

Thanks for viewing!

Comparison of lavender/ pink polishes

When I got Essie Under Where?, I thought I might have something similar but turns out that the polishes that I have are pretty distinct *phew* And I was too lazy to paint and remove for comparison, hence the scotch tape :p

From pinky, anticlockwise, is:
BYS Scented pastel purple
OPI Do You Lilac It?
Essie Under Where?
Essence Enchanted Fairy
Essence Ballerina's Charm (half thumb)
Orly You're blushing (half thumb)

Bottle shots, same sequence as above, from right.

Ballerina's Charm and You're blushing might look quite similar here but not really in real life. See this post for more pics.

Thanks for viewing!

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe with gold star studs

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe was one of my rare polish splurges and when I got the 3mm gold star studs from KKCenterHk, I decided to put them together for a starry night kind of look :)

Please click read more for more pics.

Essie In the Cab-ana with Glitter Gal Silver 3D Holo half moon and flower nail foil accent

As I had a piece of the flower nail foil left from my previous mani, decided to try a bling/shiny accent nail with it since the outline of the flowers is holographic foil ;) Hence applied 2 coats of Glitter Gal 3D Silver Holo on ring finger and half-moons before applying the foil and Essie In the Cab-ana.

Essie In the Cab-ana is a bright aqua blue cream and applies very well, unlike Essie Under Where?. 1 coat was fairly opaque but I applied 2 coats to even the polish out. Below is a pic with less direct light.

If you wanna see how the foil is applied, go to my previous mani, and you can purchase this nail foil (NNAIL-E28) from this link and get 10% off purchases if you use the code "barenailsnomore".

Thanks for viewing!

Essie Under Where? with flower pattern nail foil

Here is Essie Under Where? from Resort Collection 2013 as base, and a flower pattern nail foil from KKCenterHk over it :)

Under Where? is a pink toned medium purple creme, which I found rather thick and streaky :( And the mini brush made application harder as well. If you look at the plain swatch pic after the jump, you will see the unevenness and bubbling.

But thankfully, I had planned to try out the flower pattern nail foil I received from KKCenterHk for a sweet floral look, and the foil helped to conceal the polish application issues ;) This is my first time applying nail foil and it was relatively easy, and I like this pattern a lot as it lets you show the base polish but spices things up with little effort. You can purchase this nail foil (NNAIL-E28) from this link and you can get 10% off purchases if you use the code "barenailsnomore" :)

Click read more for step by step details.

Full size vs minis - OPI, Essie, Orly

Since it's Mother's Day, thought it would be fun to show the mommy and kid polishes together :p 

Size-wise, Orly minis are largest at 5.4ml, Essie next at 5ml and OPI minis only have 3.75ml :(

What is more annoying is that names are not printed on the OPI minis and this means I have to try to recall which collection it was from and google it to search for the name so that I can put it down in my posts o(>< )o If Essie and Orly can do it, I really don't see why OPI can't put the name somewhere on the bottle itself.

Anyway, just realised that perhaps I should have taken pics of the different brushes. Would that be useful? Let me know if you would like to see it :) 

Thanks for viewing!

Minis haul OPI Bond Girls, Essie Resort 2013, KKCenterHk nail foil and star studs

Just a very quick sharing of my recent mini haul of minis :p

OPI Bond Girls minis (Jinx, Vesper, Pussy Galore, Solitare) and Essie Resort Collection 2013 minis (Come Here!, First Timer, In the Cab-ana, Under Where?). I also have gold star studs and flower nail foil with glue, courtesy of KKCenterHk. Can't wait to try out the nail foil! Hope to show you a mani with it over the weekend ;D

Update, click on below for manis:
Essie Under Where? and Flower nail foil
Essie In the Cab-ana with Glitter Gal Silver 3D Holo half moon + flower nail foil accent

Thanks for viewing!

OPI Live and Let Die stamped with Jessica Iridescent Eye BM323 & with studs

OPI Live and Let Die was from the Skyfall collection last year and part of the mini set which I got but I never got around to using it till now. It is a lovely dark, near black forest green with gold shimmer. The stamping was done using Jessica Iridescent Eye (Chanel Peridot dupe) and BM323, but with too much+uneven force I'm afraid :(

Since I wasn't too happy with the stamping, decided to freehand strips of Iridescent Eye and Live and Let Die with the polish brush itself (hence the crookness :p), and added some gold studs from Born Pretty Store, which I thought went well with the polishes :) [P.S. Use BNNMK31 for 10% off if you wanna make a purchase]

Click read more for pics of stamping and plain swatch.

Innisfree 104 stamped with Color Club Eternal Beauty and Over the Moon BM212

Innisfree 104 is a pretty indigo with plenty of shimmer, flashing blue and pink/purple. It is well pigmented and 2 coats were sufficient to cover my nail line. I left it plain for a day, then couldn't resist adding to it by stamping Color Club Eternal Beauty (top half) and Over the Moon (bottom half) with BM212. Still quite a klutz at stamping so the image is not too clear, but the dark base contrasts nicely with the holographic shades (just don't look at it too closely :p)

Update: Added some flowers to it using Over the Moon and Eternal Beauty the next day ;)

Click read more for plain swatches of Innisfree 104.

Color Club Beyond flowers on Essence Glamorous Life

Base is Essence Glamorous Life, a pretty fushia pink with pink glitter, which has unfortunately been discontinued (-_-)" [I got it some time ago but it was an untried until now]. I also sponged on Kleancolor Red Sparkle on the tips but guess it is not that obvious. For the nail art, I drew on the flowers with Color Club Beyond (black holographic), added black acrylic paint inside the flowers + the vines, and lastly dotted the flowers and around them with Beyond.

Lost a bit of interest midway so wasn't too conscientious with the painting/dotting, so pls excuse the messiness. And I only added Etude House PBK803 glitter to my other hand :p

Pls click read more for pic of right hand and plain swatches.